RA Motor Slop
15
The RA Motor on my G-11 is so loose that I have to slap it back into position in order for it to engage the gears. I don't see any way to "tighten" it so it doesn't wobble in and out of the housing. I fear I damaged something by incorrectly transporting the mount sitting on the motor. Does anyone know the correct fix for that? Photo shows the motor in the "out" position.
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Making a model with limited sky visibiltiy.
4
My G11 is my "backyard" setup with a Celestron 9.25" Edge HD OTA. I have limited visibility due to proximity to my garage and tall trees nearby. When I ask for "help making a model" I can't see many of the bright stars, so I have never been able to use the "go-to" features at all since there is no way for me to tell the mount where it's pointing. Is there a workaround?
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Installing Gemini-2 Driver on an Android Tablet
10
I belong to an astronomy club, and we have a Losmandy Titan mount, running L6.01 Gemini 2. I connect the mount via Ethernet to my laptop PC. One of our club members would like to do some plate solving with the mount, by connecting his ASI Air device to the mount via Ethernet, and accessing the ASI Air app using his Android tablet. He's been to the Gemini 2 driver download page, and he's having problem downloading/installing the driver onto his Android tablet. Does anyone know if an Android driver exists to make these wireless people happy?
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Gemini II Hand Control issues
10
My Gemini II Hand Control always shows Jupiter and Saturn as "pre-selected" and won't let me select them. Who wants to view them anyway? LOL The other planets appear fine. Anyone know a fix?
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Disconnection Losmandy G11 GEMINI LV4
7
Hello, Last night, I encountered a recurring problem. I am attaching the log file. The Losmandy G11 Gemini 1 LV4 mount disconnects randomly from NINA. I have tried everything I could find in the group, but I haven't been able to fix the issue. The first problem occurred after 8:18 PM; you can find it in the logs at 20:19:46.975 Exception. Thank you in advance for your help. Cyril
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Undermounted?
17
Hope I'm missing something obvious here, but my GM811 guiding has recently seemed impossible to get sorted. I have occasionally been able to achieve 0.5" guiding, but more typically 0.7"-1.2" with current configuration. After breakdown of RA and Dec, replacement clutch pads (Hermann), relube of all bearings, adjustment of worm meshes, gearbox, PEMPro RA 2x worm PEC, etc, I still can't seem to dial this in. A sample screenshot shows a regular whiplash of DEC, with repeating spikes, which to me indicates some regular periodic roughness of worm gear on the DEC axis? DEC is swinging back and forth here. Could DEC also be affecting the RA numbers? DEC seems to have slight visible play by hand; clutches are tightened about ? turn past touching. Nothing too different than ever. OTA is an SVX140T about 28 lbs with 29 lbs counterweight. Am using an OAG at the scope's FL of about 938mm. Is 57 lbs past the limit of the G8 DEC perhaps? Any thoughts on what to try or adjust? Dale
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Gemini/NINA spreadsheet
14
I uploaded a new version of the spreadsheet "Edward-Gemini-NINA.xlsx" This includes suggestion to enable "Report Pier Side" and "Flip using Goto" per a recent thread on the Gemini group. -- Edward
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Encoders, yes or no?
34
All, Sorry for the barrage of newby questions, I am working my way through the manual to get to grips with all the features on the G11, my first motorised eq, tonight's topic of interest is Encoders. If I understand there are 2 types of Encoders, the type that is incorporated into the motor, this type uses pins on the motor din plugs to connect, and the other type that fits to the RA and DEC shafts and connects to Gemini via the encoder RJ45 socket..Please correct my if I am wrong! I understand what they do so my questions are: Except for manual guiding when attached to a computer running Stellarium were the benefit is obvious, are they useful for any other purpose and worth the money? What is the best type, motor or shaft? Thank you in advance..
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Help interpret my unguided log
6
I do believe this is my first post! The attached unguided guidelog is from my CG-11 with several upgrades including brass worm gear on RA, new OPW blocks both axis, Gemini-II w/HT motors, somewhat recent new factory RA and DEC bearings, recent clean & lube with factory grease, I hope still cleaned/dry clutch pads, clutches minimally tight, 200mmFL guidescope. About 45 minutes of unguided time under below average seeing. The PE is rather high and looks to me jaggy, (and I wonder if that's indicative of mechanical, seeing or what.) On a good night I see about 0.75-1.0" rms in PHD2 and am currently imaging at 1.13" and 0.75", so I'd like to see if there's anything I can do to improve performance before I buy PEMpro and create a PEC curve. Yesterday I removed and checked gearboxes/motors, also re-tightened oldham coupler set screws. Adjusted worm mesh but with the OPW this was just by feel - I simply push the worm into the wheel lightly and tighten everything down and if there is no stall I figure it's good - any advice appreciated! Tonights experiment: if the clouds cooperate, playing with the RA worm mesh after sundown and mount cooldown as previously I'm adjusting at room temp which I know is not smart. -- Thanks, Topher
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RA guiding awful after upgrade
46
Hello, I bought an RA extension and 12" pier extension for my g11. The goal was to improve meridian flips with my 130mm refractor. I checked all the screws in both components and they are tight. Guuding was good before the extensions .3 to .7 I. Both RA and DEC. Now, DEC is still good, right now it's 0.4 but RA is 1.5, 1.8, 2.2 or more. Last light after the flip it improved. Tonight I moved the CW to make it east heavy. That did not really help. I have tried adjusting the aggression but that doesn't make much difference (I use an ASIAIR). Again, the problems started with the new RA and pier extensions. I hate to lose the first clear nights in two months so any suggestions are appreciated. Tom
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Large Dec Backlash
7
I sent my mount in within the past 6 months to get the L6 upgrade, ra/dec extension, and springloaded worm addong. I started noticing after this it is taking forever to get calibration and after East/West calibration it takes several minutes to clear the backlash ( I get an error that Ra/dec rates differ by unexpected amounts). I did a guide assist and measured my dec backlash which gave me this is the result. I am not entirely sure how to fix this or go about adjusting the spring or the dec gears. Any advice is greatly appreciated. My initial guide calibration used to take 1-2 minutes maybe 5 at most. Now its 5-10 minutes. I get the error every time, I will discard the calibration 2-3 times before I can get a good calibration.
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Pier side
8
Hi All I know this is not a Losmandy specific question but since I'm STILL struggling with getting automated pier flips to work with my Losmandy G11 and N.I.N.A, I figured this would be a good place to start.... I've decided to go right back to basics and ask some questions that may be construed as "silly", so bear with me. So.... Pier side - What is it? I know what I THINK it is, but I just want clarification so I can tick that one off my list. Let's say that the Gemini software is saying the scope is pier side West. Is the scope on the west side of the pier? Is the scope on the east side of the pier but pointing west of the meridian My belief is that in this instance, the scope would be on the west side of the pier (regardless of whether it is pointing to the east or west of the meridian). But what do I know?? -- Thanks and Best Regards Neil
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Specs for the main axis thrust bearings.
13
Does anyone have a handle on the specs or a source for the RA and DEC main thrust bearings? I'm not looking for the smaller thrust bearings used in the clutches. Thanks in advance, Tim.
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Gemini-1 Failure
7
Yesterday I was balancing my 2008 Losmandy G11, Gemini-1 using servo-motor current draw to fine tune the balance. At one point I used the hand controller to move the telescope to point at the celestial pole with counterweight down. As it neared that position the mount gave a continuous tone like when a safety limit is reached. That was puzzling since it wasn't anywhere near the limit. So I switched the Gemini-1 off, thinking it just needed a reboot. When I turned it back on there was no response, no startup beep, no lights on Gemini electronics chassis or hand controller. Then I saw the 17-volt power had no lights. So it seemed the power supply had died. So I brought out my old Pyramid 13.8 volt power supply and hooked it up. It too had the same symptom - when Gemini-1 was switched on, the power supply lights for voltage and current went off. So two power supplies had same symptom - not supplying power with all lights on or connected to the Gemini-1 all lights go off. It's clear the problem lies with the Gemini-1, perhaps something like a dead short. I'll give another try today to see if a day's rest has corrected the problem. But the prognosis isn't good. Does anyone know if there is something that I can do, like a resettable circuit breaker or fuse? I'll be contacting Michael Herman to see if he can resurrect my old Gemini-1. If that fails, perhaps buying a used Gemini-1 or new Gemini-2 would be the path forward. My 17 year old Losmandy G11 has been a stalwart in my astronomy adventure. It now resides inside Ocean Observatory, with slide off roof. Presently the G11 is carrying a Celestron-8 with AT115EDT triplet refractor, like what is shown below. So as can be expected, I'm eager to get my old Losmandy G11/G-1 back in service. Best Regards, Russ
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East-Heavy Guiding With G11T?
11
I just received an axis upgrade for the G11T. Travel, poor weather, and stuff still coming in for my imaging setup will prevent me from putting everything through its paces. For G11T (with Titan RA axis) users out there, do you guide east heavy with this mount? I realize experiences may differ, but I'm wondering whether or not some or most users see guiding improvement this way specifically in RA. Regards, George
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Did my Gemeni 2 firmware become corrupt?
7
My less than a year old G11T in my observatory (climate controlled) has been idle for a few weeks. Its just been too cold for me. So the other night I was ready for some imaging. Everything started normal but the first goto wasn't going in the right direction. Not even close. I checked all my settings in N.I.N.A, the Gemeni settings and the hand controller. Nothing has changed. All good. My location, time, date, all good. Several more goto attempts was all the same, not even close. I tried a goto with just the hand controller, same result, way off. I use an ethernet cable, so I replaced that with a new one. No change. So I'm thinking maybe the firmware became corrupt during the short hiatus. Just checking with the group for any other suggestions. It doesn't seem like a hard task to reinstall the firmware from what I've read but if there's any update that can ruin a mount, its the firmware.
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G11G Imaging Weight Capacity for Imaging?
26
I have a prospective buyer for my G11G w/ LW tripod. They know that the tripod will have to be upgraded to the heavy-duty tripod. They plan to do DSO and planetary imaging with a 12” Meade SCT. Likely with and without a 0.63x FR/FF. The F.L. of the scope at f/10 is 3048mm and at f/6.3 is 1,920mm. They estimate the total weight of the imaging setup to be 50 pounds. My questions are… Is 50 pounds pushing to limits of the G11G w/ Heavy Duty Tripod for imaging? Is a F.L. of 3,048 or 1,920 pushing the limits of the G11G w/ Heavy Duty Tripod for imaging? Would they be better off with a G11T? Its my understanding they have no experience with Losmandy mounts. ------------------------ Jim W Phoenix, AZ. USA Losmandy G11G w/ L6, ZWO AM5N, NINA 3.0 / ASTAP, ASI2600MC Pro / ASI533MM Pro, Sky-Watcher Scopes, Canon L Lenses....etc
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Unable to fully lock RA axis on G11
29
Hello All I am a brand new user of Losmandy mounts. My past experience with GEMs has been limited to the iOptron SGP and the Vixen GPDX. I recently acquired a Celestron Losmandy G11. I tried to counterbalance my setup today and had a clarification about the RA axis. No matter how much I tighten the RA clutch knob I am unable to fully lock the RA axis movement (and I really tightened the clutch). The Dec axis is fine....I am able to fully lock down that axis when I tighten the Dec clutch. Is this normal ? As an example when I deliberately throw the RA axis off balance by moving the 11lb counterweight all the way towards the end of the shaft, the mount easily rotates about the RA axis even when fully tightened down. This has definitely not been my experience on the other gems I have used... Would appreciate any advice. Sincerely Avi
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G11 if you are interested
Hi- I was told that it would be OK to let the group know I have a G11 mount/tripod for sale. But rather than overextend my site privileges, I'll leave it to you to contact me privately or see the ad on Astromart for details. Thanks. J.R., Gainesville, GA
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GM8 alt/az adjustors
13
How good are the alt/az adjustors on the GM8? As someone who has to setup and tear down for each session, it’s important to me that these adjustors work well with minimal backlash to make polar alignment as straightforward as possible. Thanks! Greg
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